Arnulf of Chocques

Arnulf Malecorne of Choques (or of Rohes) (died 1118) was a leader among the clergy during the First Crusade, and later became Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Before the First Crusade ARnulf was a tutor to Cecilia, daughter of William I of England. He was the chaplain of the Norman crusader army led by Robert of Normandy, Cecilia's brother and William's son. He was most likely appointed a papal legate, under the authority of the overall legate Adhemar of Le Puy, and after Adhemar's death in 1098 he shared control of the clergy with fellow legate Peter of Narbonne. Some of the non-Norman knights in the other crusader armies believed he was corrupt, and they apparently sung vulgar songs about him, but most crusaders respected him as an eloquent preacher.

He was one of the chief skeptics about Peter Bartholomew's claims to have discovered the Holy Lance in Antioch, and because of Arnulf's opposition Peter volunteered to undergo an ordeal by fire. Arnulf's opposition to Peter brought him into conflict with Raymond of St. Gilles, who believed Peter's story. To help ease the crisis among the crusaders over the issue, and also to lift spirits after Peter's death during the ordeal, Arnulf helped make a statue of Christ which was placed on one of the siege engines at Jerusalem. After the capture of Jerusalem he discovered the True Cross in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This discovery was not as controversial as the discovery of the Lance, although it was just as suspicious. Arnulf may have been trying to make up for the problems he caused disproving the authenticity of the Lance, and the True Cross became the most sacred relic of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

On August 1, 1099, he was elected Patriarch of Jerusalem. He was supported by Godfrey of Bouillon, the first king of the new state, and in turn he supported Godfrey's decision to make Jerusalem a secular kingdom rather than one ruled by the clergy, and, ultimately, the Pope. However, according to canon law he was ineligible as he was not yet a deacon, and he was not officially consecrated. In December he was replaced by Dagobert of Pisa, who had been appointed by Pope Paschal II, and was instead appointed archdeacon of Jerusalem.

In 1112 he officially became Patriarch, though many of the other clerics distrusted him and found him unncessarily harsh. He was especially unpopular with the Orthodox and Syrian Christians when he prohibited non-Roman Catholic masses at the Holy Sepulchre. In 1115 he was accused of sexual relations with a Muslim and briefly deposed, but he was reappointed and remained Patriarch until his dead in 1118.